Vic: Armoured van robbed at ATM

AAP General News (Australia)
12-15-2001
Vic: Armoured van robbed at ATM

MELBOURNE, Dec 15 AAP - Armed and masked bandits escaped with cash after they bailed
up security guards who were refilling a Toorak ATM last night.

Detectives from the Armed Offenders Squad are investigating the robbery of the armoured
truck, which had stopped outside a bank on Toorak Road to refill the automatic teller
machine (ATM) just after 9pm (AEDT), police said.

The two robbers - who were armed and wearing balaclavas - then escaped in a stolen
car which was later found dumped and set on fire in nearby Edward Street, police said.

Meanwhile police are claiming success in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs after they
charged three men with a string of 16 armed robberies allegedly committed over the last
five weeks.

Police claim the men robbed convenience stores and service stations in Moorabbin, East
Bentleigh, Dingly, Oakleigh, Clayton, Mt Waverley, Hawthorn, Windsor, Ashwood and Cheltenham.

One of the men, a 24-year-old of no fixed abode, has been charged with 16 counts of
armed robbery, two of theft of a car, two of theft and one of attempted armed robbery,
a police spokesman said.

He was remanded in custody after a brief appearance in Melbourne Magistrates' Court,
the spokesman said.

A 23-year-old Clayton man has been charged with six counts or armed robbery and two
of car theft and a 21-year-old Clayton man was charged over two armed robberies and an
attempted armed robbery, he said.

Both have been bailed to appear in court at a later date, police said.

AAP ag/cdh

KEYWORD: ROBBERIES

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